Greensboro, NC

Every year my dad has a week long conference in a different city across the country. Two years ago, it was in Cincinnati so we went along. This year was in Greensboro, NC. So we went again. There are activities planned for the wives and kids and lots of good food provided. My parents were kind enough to make this a reunion so Kristy and I put the 4 kids in the Mini (van, that is) and drove the 7 hours to NC. Crazy, I know.

WARNING: This email is long and full of fun pictures! You may need a few minutes to get through it!

Jeff and Dana came too and I think Jeff was the man of the week. ALL of the kids loved playing with him. One of the favorite games was "boats". They put a wooden boat (among other things) into the jacuzzi tub and then would turn on the "storm" and watch tbe boats sink. Jacob was always wet afterward and ALWAYS had a big smile on his face!

On one of our tours we came across a children's museum and the kids had a great time playing.

This is the tower that Jacob built. It got too tall for him down by the blocks so he came up on the benches to add to it.

Jacob and Katelyn had such a great time together.

Time with Grandad was a precious commodity. The kids couldn't agree on which book to read so Grandad held one book in one hand and the other book in the other hand and read a page of each while the kids turned the pages. Surprisingly, it worked out really well!


Jeff got quite a bit of "experience" with the kids. Here he is holding Rachel with Jacob wrapped around one leg and trying to figure out how to walk. What parent HASN'T done this? Poor Jeff, he was mistaken for a father/husband who knows HOW many times a day!


Rachel loved everything Baby Josh. Carseat, binky, blankets, toys. She wanted to do it all. Josh loved it too, we just had to make sure she didn't love him TOO hard!


Rachel was a little shy of all the new people but she warmed up to them after a few days. Especially to Grandad's pens and wallet in his shirt pocket!


After dinner one night the kids got balloons. Jacob requested a car and Katelyn loved her flower hat. Jacob's car broke quikly though when he tried to drive it on the floor.



Reading stories with Grandad. Notice the stickers Rachel kept giving both Grandma and Grandad. What good sports they were to wear them!


One of our tours took us to a huge barn filled with antique tractors. JAcob was in heaven.


Checking out all of the toys with Grandad.


Those were some BIG tractors!


Jacob ended up scraping his knees and didn't want to walk since the bandaids kept tugging at his owies. I got tired of carrying two children so I told him he had to walk. His solution? Waddling. All over the ground, up the stairs on the bus and down the aisle to his seat. We got some pretty strange looks.



One of the other stops on the tour was a ranch where we got to feed all sorts of different animals. From potbelly pigs to bison and emus, we had quite the experience! Jacob loved it. He thought it was so much fun! We went through two and a half buckets of food. Rachel loved it too. But I think she liked throwing the food off the wagon more than feeding the animals.



This zebra was pretty brazen. I made sure to keep the diaperbag safely tucked away!


Yet another stop on the tour was the race car factory. They only make a few race cars here, just multiples of the same one. Jacob had fun seeing which ones had wheels and learning that they didn't have doors. Unfortunately, we didn't see Lightening McQUeen.


The last dinner (and the fanciest) where Dad was officailly made president of the organization for the next year. Katleyn fell asleep before dinner and didn't regain conciousness. Jacob ended up with ketchup and mustard all over his white shirt from the chicken fingers he got and Rachel ended up with a tummy bug from the medium steak she shared with me. But boy, MOM & DAD sure looked good!

We had a blast and at the end of the 7 hours back to Columbus, Kristy and I pushed our dishelveled hair out of our eyes, dragged the kids into the house and collapsed on the floor. Would we ever do that again? Maybe, but not for a LOOOOOOONG time!